Arizona State's season has a clear outlier in it: the 48-20 loss at Texas A&M. Kenny Dillingham put that one on 4 turnovers, saying the Sun Devils can lose to anybody if they give it away like that. Arizona Sports noted the defense actually held the Aggies to 255 total yards at 4.3 yards per play. Before Hawai'i comes to town, ASU also has its Big 12 home opener against Baylor and DJ Lagway, so check that result for how the defense handled a true pocket passer.
The matchup to watch is the ASU pass rush against Hawai'i's passing volume. Jalen Thompson has 11 of the Sun Devils' 28 pressures, per Arizona Sports, and Baylor transfer Emar'rion Winston has added 4 pressures and a sack. If Hawai'i needs 40-plus throws again, Thompson gets a lot of chances to win his matchup, and a quarterback who's been nursing his arm since September is the one taking the hits.
Arizona State has its own injuries. TE K. Anderson is expected to miss the rest of the season, guard W. Helton is out for an extended period, and LB Z. Fiaseu is on IR with a knee injury. Losing a guard and a tight end weakens the run blocking, but the ASU front would still be the better line on the field. The forecast calls for 92 degrees in Tempe, and Hawai'i's football is less of a fit for that heat than the home team's.
Hawai'i's season is already in trouble at 0-2 in Mountain West play, and it's a long trip to play a Big 12 team in a nonconference game. The way the Rainbow Warriors stay in it is to keep the score low, avoid giving up big plays, and hope ASU turns it over like it did in College Station. Arizona State's job is simpler: hold onto the ball and let the defense do the rest.